Currently Ashley, Taylor, and I are in the pool, soaking up the sun on this very, very warm Friday afternoon. Ashley and I were on floaties and Taylor was just tanning on a pool chair, taking notes. Taking notes on what? Ashley's wedding, of course. Taylor was also one of bridesmaids, and she was very organized and liked to do this kind of stuff.
"I want those classic Christmas light bulbs and the tiny little round ones, the bigger ones have the cream light and the smaller ones have the blue." Ashley says and I nod in agreement.
"Okay, and what kinds of flowers again?" Taylor asks and then I hear Ashley giggle for a moment.
"Sunflowers and daisies, my mother hates those." She says in an evil tone, making me sit up and look at her and raise an eyebrow, questioning her. "Well you know how my mother hates Caleb?" She says and Taylor laughs after.
"No way, really? How is she letting you get married to him?" Taylor says in shock, while letting out a few chuckles.
"Not her choice is it? Anyways, Caleb got me those flowers on our first date. My mother thought they were too'bumpkin', but I thought they were romantic for him." Ashley says like she's in a happy daze, as if remembering it was only yesterday it happened. "My mother hates the thought of my spending the rest of my life with some 'cowboy who rides ponies for a living', but what can she do, I love 'em." She swoons, making my heart melt and smile.
"I love you two." I say as I lay back down.
"I know, we're perfect."
****************
Writing in my journal today was mostly was about Ashley and Caleb, and my thoughts and wishing about what love is. I wrote down my ideal man and what I looked for in a guy, but with my case I would never allow myself to find it.
Keeping what happened in Bismarck is killing me inside. I feel like it's building up inside me like lava does in a volcano. But I can't let it out, it would make everything worse. I know my family would keep constant tabs on me, and it would put a major down fall on the family. I couldn't do that to them, after everything they have done for me. This is for me to deal with on my own.
Feeling the vibration under my leg, I flip over my phone and look at the screen and see that Cooper is calling me. "Hello?"
"Hey it's me, I was just wondering if you could come over and help me with a couple of horses." Cooper's voice says through the phone.
"Yeah sure, be right over." I say and close my journal and slide off my bed, my feet hitting the cold wooden floor of my bedroom.
I'm almost to my truck, when I see my dad and decide to tell him where I'm going. Dad's currently cutting some old wood, and then loading them in the truck bed. My dad had put a lot of time and effort into this ranch, and it made me really proud to be apart of it. "Hey dad I'm going to Cooper's to help him with his horses." I say and then he stops and puts down the chainsaw and looks at me with a confused look.
"Is this you asking me?" He says as he wipes his forehead with his handkerchief.
"Um, well I just though-"
"I told you that you have to ask before going to his house, so no, you can't go." He says very sternly, taking me way back because of his actions.
"What? Dad I'm just going over there to help him." I say back to him.
"Do you know what he did to me?" My dad says, as if he's had enough of me trying to defend Cooper. I cross my arms, waiting for him to inform me. "He stole money from the livestock barn!" He barks at me and I am shocked. Cooper wouldn't steal money, I know he has plenty enough for himself and his family.
"No he didn't." I scoff and roll my eyes at my dad.
"Are you going to believe your family, or some wild kid who likes to get into fights and doesn't care about anyone but himself?" My father throws at me. When I wasn't with Cooper, I did hear about his temper getting in the way, or he was very rude to people.
I've seen it before once.. It was at the diner, he didn't know I was there, but I picked up a late shift for Maybell that night. From behind the kitchen counter, I watched him confront someone and it was not pretty. I didn't see the man who he was talking to, but I couldn't make out what Cooper was saying. They were in the back corner, so no one else saw them. But I did see Cooper shove the man, making it seem like Cooper was giving him a warning.
I don't know why I hadn't thought more of it. Maybe I had believed Cooper had a rough day and was just letting off steam, but now that I think of it, that's still not a good reason to rough someone up like that. "Are you sure he did it?" I ask my dad.
"It was his jacket, I know it was. I want you to be careful around him." My dad says softly, making me realize he was telling the truth. I didn't say anything, I just turned around and walked into the house.
What would I tell Cooper? Tell him that my daddy said no, so I couldn't? Or after every conversation we've had, I just didn't want to anymore? I grabbed my phone from my back pocket, and hesitated before I called Cooper, but I just couldn't bring myself to call Cooper. How could he steal from my family? And I'm sure it wouldn't be a big deal if it was $100, I'm sure it had to be a lot more than that. Was Cooper, who I really thought he was? Or was he just trying to get on my good side so he could do other bad dead?
***************
Tonight at the diner was, "Friday Fun." Friday fun was just a night at the diner for kids still in high school. There was sometimes live music and the ice cream was buy one get one free, so lots of people of came. When I was in school everyone looked forward to it, I wonder if people still like to go.
I looked at my outfit before I headed out. My hair was curled, but I braided the front pieces of my hair and pinned them on the back of my head. I was wearing a white long sleeve shirt with the criss cross lase up strings, and some black ripped skinny jeans. I wore some flip flops and a Boot Barn belt.
Holy cow, there is a lot of people here tonight. I had to park on the street, it was so packed! I tucked my phone in my back pocket as I walked up to the entrance door. As I opened the door the noise overwhelmed my senses and I looked around at all the teens around me. When I was looking around my eyes landed on Cooper, who I didn't think who was going to be here.
He wasn't looking at me, and I was thankful. I really didn't want to explain myself to him for skipping on him, because quite frankly, I didn't have an answer for myself. I went behind the counter, to go talk to Maybell who was cashing into the cash register. "I didn't think it would be this busy." I say to May as I lean against the counter.
"Every Friday night, just like this. But most of them just kind of hang around, barely get anything." She shrugs and I nod to her.
"Hey May, can I ask you something?" I ask her as I return my eyes to her after looking at Cooper.
"Anything sugar." She sweetly says and stands in front of me, with a hand on her hip.
"What do you think about Cooper Blackwood?" I ask with a force sigh during the words.
"Honestly?" She asks and I nod, "From the amount of girls I've seen him here with, I'd assume he can't be in a committed relationship or it's for something else. And what he did to your daddy, makes me weary about him. He's also got a fighting side to him.. I'd be careful, D." She says and I just nod to her, not knowing what to think. Hearing Maybell say it made things a little bit easier, because now I know my dad isn't lying to me.
Looking at Cooper I remembered the text he sent me earlier, 'Hey what happened to ya?' and then another one, 'You okay?' Both I didn't reply to because I didn't have an answer for him. I didn't know what happened, and I didn't know if I was okay.
Caught in my thought, I had realized Cooper was looking at me to. His stare was mostly confused, but I saw a little bit of anger? Why would he be angry at me? After a second of staring I quickly looked down and began to think of something to occupy myself for an excuse.
I begin wiping the counter and from the top of my vision I see a figure sit in front of me, and I really hope it's not the person I am thinking of. I take a quick deep breath, set the old rag down, and then slowly look up. Well I didn't know what to think about this, it wasn't Cooper, but it was still someone I didn't want to talk to, Mason.
Although I can't help but feel relived when I see it's Mason, because I'm actually ready to talk to Mason, even though I don't want to. "What do you want Mason?" I ask as politely as I can to him.
"Hi to you to, sweetheart." He sarcastically says and I mentally kick myself for being rude to him.
"Sorry, I've had a weird day." I say to him and he nods if he understands.
"Well it wouldn't have to do with him, would it?" He says and turns his back to look at Cooper, and I follow him and look. Cooper turned his position, and now I see everyone he's sitting with and of course, Avery's there. Avery's sitting right next to him, twirling her finger through her fake hair and obnoxiously chewing her gum.
"How would you know?" I ask him turning my attention back to Mason.
"Please, I saw you guys exchanging weird looks ever since you walked in. What happened?" He asks me and I look at him and begin to laugh at him. He gives me a confused look and I stop laughing as I realize he's serious.
"Why do you care, Mason?" I ask him, placing both my hands on the counter.
"Because I care about you DaKota." He says seriously as he puts his right hand on my left hand. There it is, classic Mason. "I'm serious. Just listen to me. What ever happened between you two, has he tried to fix it?" He points out to me.
"Well no, but it's my fa-" I try to protest to him but he cuts me off.
"Who's ever fault it is, he should be over here talking to you, not talking to Avery right now." He says and then I peak around Mason and see Avery laughing at Cooper, ugh what a- be nice DaKota. "If he really wanted to make it right, he wouldn't be paying attention to her right now.. Remember how I would try to fix things?" He says and I give him a warning glare, for bringing up our old relationship.
Mason would always try to immediate fix things between us, but sometimes it got tiring because sometimes you just need space. But these wasn't one of those times. For once, Mason actually had a point. "Thanks Mason, but this really isn't your problem." I say in a nice tone because I wasn't trying to be mean to him.
"When you make up your mind, I'll be over there." He says with a small smirk and gentle smirk, and then he brings my hand to his lips and kisses it. Once again I shoot him a glare and he drops my hand and leaves the chair.
I decide I want a bowl of our famous ice cream, I could really use it right now. I go over to our ice cream station and whip it up in a quick motion because I've done it so many times. Once it's done, I stick my finger in there and stick in my mouth, tasting if it's right, sure is.
"DaKota." A deep serious voice says behind me and I internally groan to myself as I know who it is. I turn around to see Cooper right there, he has a very serious look on his face making me very confused. "Can we talk outside?" He says.
"Well I have to wait a c-"
"No you don't, you've haven't been working at all tonight." He catches me in my lie and I sigh and nod to him. When he turns to leave, I shove a big spoonful of ice cream in my mouth and then leave the bowl on the counter.
Cooper and I made it outside, off the side walk by the cars. Walking past him, I could faintly smell women's perfume and I knew it was Avery's. "Why have you been avoiding me?" He asks me while crossing his arms over his chest.
"I've just been really busy today, I'm sorry." I say without looking him straight in the eyes.
"Too busy to reply to a simple text?" He asks and I bit my lip, trying to think. "And what's going on with Mason and you?" He asks out of the blue.
"What does that have to do with this?" I turn back to him, actually looking at him.
"What are you avoiding that topic too?" He snaps at me and I start to question him in my mind.
"No I am not, there's nothing going on with him and that's it." I snap back at him and I see his jaw clench. "You and Avery seem to be enjoying yourselves." I return it to him and he looks offended. What he's the only one to ask questions?
"That has nothing to do with this." He blankly says and his voice is getting louder. What is his deal! He's acting like this is all my fault and he's all innocent.
"Just like Mason and I." I come back at him and he puts his hand on his hip.
"So there is something between you-"
"No, there isn't!" I yelled frustrated. "I am sorry that I told you I would come over but then I didn't." I say in a more calm voice, hoping he would figure out I was sincere.
"But why?" He asked in a pained voice. My mind was racing with lies I could tell him, but I didn't want to lie to Cooper.
"What's going on here?" I rolled my eyes when I heard Mason's voice. I was irritated that he came out here, can anyone just get some alone time in this town?!
"Go back inside Mason." I turn to him, and almost grit through my teeth at him.
"Why are you yelling at her, Blackwood?" He says and takes a step towards Cooper. Cooper squares his shoulders to Mason and glares at him. His expression was annoyed and tired of Mason.
"She told you to go inside, Bishop." Cooper warns and then mocks him at the end. I swear to the Lord if they start arguing, I'm going to loose my freaking mind.
"Well what are you saying?" Mason dangerously says to Cooper, and takes another threatening step towards Cooper, who clenches his jaw.
"I'm saying if you don't leave in the next 15 seconds, you'll be screaming for yer daddy to come help you." Cooper warns Mason, but Mason just smirks like he doesn't think Cooper will hit him, or he has something smart to say.
"Well at east my father is actually here." Mason says, and I look at Cooper and he looks like a whole new level of pissed off. I can tell Cooper is trying not to say something because his jaw is clenched so hard I think it might fall off. "That's right Blackwood, are you remembering the day your dad lef-"
Before Mason could say anymore, Cooper loaded his arm back and hit Mason so hard you could hear it. I was surprised when Mason got right back up and cocked his jaw at Cooper. "You don't know anything." Cooper spat at him and he took a step back from Mason, giving him room.
But then Mason did a stupid thing, he charged towards Cooper and tackled Cooper, bringing them to the ground. "Mason, stop!" I say as they both start fighting to get on top of each other.
Cooper got out of Mason's hold and stood back up and so did Mason. "Stop it you guys!!" I tried to yell at them, but then Cooper sent another blow to Mason's jaw. Mason had to take a few steps back after the impact and he shook his head, as if trying to set his jaw back in place.
"That's all you got, Blackwood?" Mason challenged Cooper and Cooper just smirked and grabbed Mason's shirt and pulled him closer and punched him square in the nose. There was definitely a crack after the punch, and Mason was on the ground rolling in pain holding his nose. "Cooper, stop it!" I yelled at Cooper and tried to pull his arm back, and then he looked at me square in the eyes. His eyes were dark, it made me feel scared and cowardly. This Cooper wasn't the one I knew, I was afraid of this Cooper.. I automatically dropped my hand from his arm and looked down at the ground.
Cooper hovered over the hurting Mason and he looked disgusted at Mason, "You call that a fight? You city boys make me laugh." Cooper evilly humored, and then his serious look came again. "If you ever talk about my family again, I'll be talking to you in your hospital bed." Cooper warned and it made me freeze in my spot.
But then I saw Mason open his mouth, "Shut up Mason!" I tried to warn him from saying something stupid that could get him seriously hurt.
"Let him say it." Cooper growled at me, but didn't look at me.
Mason smirked up at Cooper, "You're just like your father." Mason added a chuckle. As Cooper raised his fist behind his ear, I launched myself between Mason and Cooper. I was thankful Cooper had the strength to stop his firing fist, because if he didn't, I would be dead.
"What the hell DaKota!!" Cooper yelled at me.
"You need to leave." I try to say in the most stable voice I can right now, although in the inside I am shaking with fear.
"He needs a lesson on how to shut his mouth." Cooper tries to defend himself, and he can't take his eyes off Mason.
"And you need a lesson on how to know when to stop." I say back to him, and he clenches his jaw at me.
"Trust me I know how to stop, I just think he needed a little extra-" Before he can finish his lame ass reason to be tough, I cut him off.
"Really Cooper? Kicking someone when they're already down?" I glare at him and shake my head at him, telling him I had enough and this is not who I thought it was. This is the last thing I say to him before I grab Mason's hand and walk him over to my truck, he needs to go to the hospital and check out his nose. Even though you can clearly tell it is broken, from it's unusual positioning on his face.
I decided to wait for Mason to come out of the emergency room, mostly because I was his ride, but I wanted to see if he was okay. I really wanted to see if Cooper was okay too, even though he only got punched once, but I couldn't do it. After that, all I can see is Cooper's eyes. They were terrifying to me and they reminded me of Wade's eyes.. When I would constantly say no to Wade, he would have the same look in his eyes as Cooper just did, and that's why I am so freaked out.
I missed Cooper's crooked smirk, with his charming-bad-boy smile he would give me. I missed the glimmer in his eyes when he was talking about his passions. I felt like the Cooper I knew had just vanished, and this Cooper had crawled up from hell and took over his body.
When I saw the door open from examining room I looked up and there was Mason. His nose was wrapped up and he looked like shit. His hair was tousled, face stained with his own blood, and his shirt and shorts had blood on them, too. "It's broken, they said it should heal in about two-three weeks." Mason says as we begin to walk to the parking lot.
"I'm sorry Mason." I say and put a hand on his shoulder for a sec.
"It's alright I guess," He shrugs and I furrow my eyebrows, "You always said I had a big nose." He says making me have a big smile on my face. When I told him he had a big nose, I didn't mean it physically. I just meant he really liked to know everything, and be in everyone's business.
I'm taking Mason back to the diner, just because his Toyota is there. It was a really awkward ride, but at least there was music to help. I pulled up right beside his truck and we both looked at each other. "Well here ya are!" I fake smile at him, but he has a serious look on his face.
"Did you finally see who he really is?" Mason says and my jaw drops a little bit. What is he talking about? Obviously it's about Cooper, but why?
"What the hell does that mean?" I scoff at him.
"Back there, that was the real Cooper. He's nothing but bad, DaKota." He says to me and I am so fired up right now.
"Did you plan this just so I could watch him beat the shit out of you?!" By the look on his face, I can tell the answer is yes. "Get the hell out." I say and unlock the door and he opens the door and slides out.
"But just so you know, I wasn't predicting you would defend me and not him. Maybe you are realizing what kind of guy he is." And then he shut the door and I put my truck in reverse and got the hell out of there.
*************
I walked into my kitchen to see my dad doing some kind of paperwork, maybe bills of some kind. He had his reading glasses down on the tip of his nose, and then looked up at me. "Where have you been? I thought that thing went until 11." He says to me and I groan out loud.
"Don't worry, I was just helping Mason with something." I say as I grab the orange juice out of the fridge and pour it into a small glass.
"Mason," He raises hie eyebrow at me, "Like your ex-boyfriend Mason?" He confirms his question.
"Yeah." I say with a weird expression on my face. "What's the problem?" He asks.
"Well I'm just shocked is all." He says and then looks back down at the papers he's holding.
"Why are you shocked?" I say and then take a sip of my drink. Orange juice is my all time favorite drink, it's just so refreshing!
"I like him, he's not like us." And by the he means, he isn't a cowboy. "Or a bullrider." He mumbles under his breath, but I heard it..
"Okay," I say frustrated and my dad looks up at me shocked, "What is so wrong with Cooper that everyone seems to hate him!"
"Not now DaKota." Is all he says and I shake my head and stomp all the way up to my room. I need to write in my journal to let out my steam and anger I shouldn't take out on anyone. I am going to get to the bottom of this..